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Modern  Decorator 

His  Inspiration  and  His  Ideals 


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An  address  delivered  before  the 
Annual  Conventio?i  of  Master 
House  Painters  a?id  Decorators 
of  Pennsylvania,  at  York ,  Pa., 
on  fanuary  19th,  1905.  Revised 
fro?n  the  Official  Stenographic 
Notes. 


".h 


BY 

H.  s.  QUILLIN 

Advertising  Manager  for  the  Fab-Ri-Ko-Na  Mills 


1905. 

H.  B.  WIGGIN’S  SONS  CO. 

MANUFACTURERS  OF 

FAB-RI-KO-NA  WOVEN  WALL  COVERINGS 
BLOOMFIELD,  N.  J. 


The  Modern  Decorator 

His  Inspiration  and  His  Ideals 


An  address  delivered  before  the 
Annual  Convention  of  Master 
House  Painters  and  Decorators 
of  Pennsylvania,  at  York ,  Pa. , 
on  fanuary  19th,  1905.  Revised 
from  the  Official  Stenographic 
Notes. 


BY 

H.  S.  QUILLIN 

Advertising  Manager  for  the  Fab-Ri-Ko-Na  Mills 


1905  : 

H.  B.  WIGGIN’S  SONS  CO. 

MANUFACTURERS  OF 

FAB-RI-KO-NA  WOVEN  WALL  COVERINGS 
BLOOMFIELD,  N.  J. 


Copyright  1905 
by 

H.  B.  WIGGIN'S  SOJSS  CO. 
Bloomfield ,  N.  J. 


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The  Modern  Decorator 


HIS  INSPIRATION 
AND  HIS  IDEALS 


Ni 


After  a  joking  reference  to  the  fact  that  he  had  been 
called  upon  to  furnish  a  speech  upon  the  spur  of  the  mo¬ 
ment,  the  speaker  said  : 

The  thing  I  have  in  mind  to  say  to  you,  gentlemen,  is 
simply  this  :  in  all  your  conventions,  while  you  consider 
very  fully  the  practical  subjects, — those  subjects  which  re¬ 
late  to  the  practical  details  of  your  business — you  generally 
v  miss,  so  it  seems  to  me,  one  element  which  ought  to  have 
a  place  in  every  such  convention.  I  mean,  gentlemen,  the 
'  element  of  inspiration.  After  all,  the  best  of  life  is  not 
made  up  of  practical  details.  There  are  some  other  things 
that  are  necessary  if  we  are  to  make  practical  details  effec- 
}  tive.  The  man  who  spends  day  after  day  in  the  grind  of 
;'C  practical  details  becomes  sooner  or  later  a  mere  machine 
for  the  turning  out  of  so  much  labor,  and  that  labor  will  be¬ 
come  to  that  man  a  deadening  drudgery  unless  there  is  in 
it  and  above  it,  and  all  through  it,  the  inspiration  needed 
to  keep  him  up  to  a  higher  plane. 

Each  of  you  gentlemen  is,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  an 
artist.  Every  decorator,  every  house  painter,  every  man 
who  contributes  in  any  way  to  the  ornamentation  of  a  build¬ 
ing,  is,  or  ought  to  be,  something  of  an  artist.  And  art 
is  inspiration.  No  man  can  be  an  artist  who  deals  solely 
or  principally  with  practical  details.  There  must  be,  some¬ 
where  and  somehow,  that  which  lifts  him  above  the  prac¬ 
tical  details  ;  which  makes  those  details  simply  a  means  to 
a  higher  end.  Understand  me,  gentlemen.  I  appreciate 


867967 


4 


the  vital  importance  of  the  practical  phases  of  our  craft. 
The  man  who  is  neglectful  of  practical  details  is  apt  to  be 
like  a  spirit  without  a  body,  and  his  business  is  sooner  or 
later  “up  in  the  air.”  But,  even  a  spirit  without  a  body 
has  one  advantage  over  a  body  without  a  spirit.  The  one 
is  alive,  at  any  rate,  while  the  other  is  dead. 

The  man  who  ‘  ‘sees  visions  and  dreams  dreams  ’  ’  may 
seem  to  the  practical  man  like  a  fanatic  or  a  fool  ;  but  let 
us  remember,  gentlemen,  that  it  is  these  same  fanatics, 
these  poets  and  artists,  to  whom  Beauty  makes  her  most 
sacred  revelations,  and  it  is  they  who  translate  these  re¬ 
velations  into  terms  intelligible  to  the  more  practical  souls. 

There  is  today  a  great  Art  movement  which  had  its  birth 
in  the  hearts  of  certain  men  who  were  not  the  most  prac¬ 
tical  of  men — that  is,  as  we  limit  the  word  “practical.” 
At  first  it  seemed  visionary  and  fantastical,  but  for  more 
that  a  decade  now  it  has  been  increasing  in  influence  and 
appreciation.  It  is  full  of  new  ideas  and  ideals.  It  is 
making  many  of  the  older  ideas  and  ideals  pass£  and  ob¬ 
solete.  It  is  bringing  new  and  splendid  inspiration  into 
the  thinking  and  feeling  of  men.  It  is  a  part  of  the  great 
intellectual  and  spiritual  uplift  which  has  marked  the  ex¬ 
perience  of  civilized  humanity  in  these  recent  days. 

It  was  my  privilege  to  spend  some  weeks  at  St.  Louis, 
writing  up  the  decorative  features  of  the  great  Exposition, 
and  I  was  greatly  interested  to  see  how  the  new  thinking 
and  feeling  of  the  New  Art  were  everywhere  embodied  in 
the  work  shown  there  by  the  foremost  decorative  artists  in 
the  world.  Walter  Crane,  of  England  ;  Albert  Besnard,  of 
Paris  ;  Edward  Cuypers,  of  Holland  ;  Baes,  of  Brussels  ; 
Pavezi,  of  Italy  ;  Paul  Horti,  of  Hungary  ;  Hokkai  Taka- 
shima,  of  Japan  ;  the  long  list  of  German  and  Austrian 
artists  whose  work  was  so  splendidly  set  forth,  and  our 
own  American  representatives, — all  these  men,  each  one 
standing  in  the  very  front  rank  of  modern  designers  and 


5 


decorators,  gave  testimony  to  their  faith  in  the  New  Art 
principles,  and  proved  their  faith  by  their  works. 

It  is  this  movement,  gentlemen,  this  new,  world -wide 
and  revolutionary  movement,  with  which  we  must  keep  in 
touch.  It  will  quicken  our  art  perceptions,  revive  our  flag¬ 
ging  enthusiasm,  give  us  a  higher,  broader,  clearer  vision, 
and  make  us  better  craftsmen  by  making  us  better  artists. 

Wherever  one  went  at  the  World’s  Fair  he  found  that 
the  old  ideals  had  been  transformed  by  the  new  life  which 
has  come  into  the  decorative  arts. 

The  keynote  of  it  all  is  simplicity.  This  does  not  mean 
merely  a  lack  of  complexity. 

By  simplicity  is  meant,  first  of  all,  individuality.  In¬ 
stead  of  following  blindly  the  period  decorations  of  the 
past,  buildings  and  rooms  are  now  being  designed  accord¬ 
ing  to  the  purpose  for  which  those  rooms  or  those  build¬ 
ings  are  created.  In  the  construction  of  a  building  they 
take  into  consideration. — even  the  architects,  you  know, 
are  doing  that  now, — they  take  into  consideration  the  pur¬ 
poses  of  the  building,  and  try  to  so  construct  it  architec¬ 
turally  that  the  sight  of  the  building  from  the  outside  will 
suggest,  or  at  least  be  fully  consistent  with,  the  purpose  for 
which  the  building  is  designed.  And  when  you  come  to 
the  rooms  in  the  house,  intelligent  decorators  try  to  give 
each  room  an  individual  touch.  In  a  dwelling  house,  for 
instance,  they  design  a  parlor  or  drawing  room  as  the 
social  centre  of  the  home,  and  whatever  there  is  of  decora¬ 
tion  is  made  consistent  with  the  purpose  for  which  that 
room  is  created.  In  the  library  there  are  the  individual 
touches  which  show  that  the  room  is  designed  to  be  a 
library  ;  in  the  dining  room  there  are  the  characteristic 
touches  showing  that  the  room  is  intended  for  a  dining 
room ;  in  the  sleeping  room,  there  are  the  dainty  delicacy 
and  restfulness  of  a  sleeping  room  ;  and  in  the  nursery, 


6 


of  course  they  fully  recognize  the  fact  that  it  is  to  be  the 
refuge  of  children,  and  that  there  must  be  those  things  in 
the  decorative  work  of  the  nursery  which  are  appropriate 
to  the  child  life.  That  is  one  thing  they  mean  by  simplic¬ 
ity. 

Another  thing  they  mean  by  simplicity  is  the  lack  of 
complex  ornament.  The  decorative  work  of  today  is  very 
simple.  Those  of  us  who  were  at  the  Fair  and  saw  the 
frieze  by  Walter  Crane, — who  is  really  the  man  upon 
whom  the  mantle  of  Morris  fell, — will  remember  how  per¬ 
fectly  simple  it  was.  Instead  of  an  elaborate  design  and 
an  elaborate  color  scheme,  Crane  simply  used  the  long 
sweeping  conventionalized  branch,  and  in  the  centers  be¬ 
tween  suspended  branches,  he  put  the  various  emblems  of 
British  nationality.  It  was  all  perfectly  simple,  and  yet 
when  you  stood  and  looked  at  it  you  recognized  that  in  the 
simplicity  there  was  a  dignity  and  beauty  which  could  not 
have  been  attained  by  any  more  elaborate  scheme.  That 
is  another  thing  they  mean  by  simplicity. 

This  simplicity  in  the  design  and  the  execution  of  orna¬ 
ment  is  very  desirable.  The  time  has  gone  by  when, 
especially  in  America,  we  need  the  fantastic  ornamenta¬ 
tion  of  past  periods.  You  take  the  rooms  of  the  Louis 
periods, — they  were  designed  in  order  to  fit  a  pleasure-lov¬ 
ing  time,  a  time  when  the  people  were  given  over, — that 
is,  in  connection  with  the  Court  at  Paris, — to  frivolity. 
They  were  the  embodied  fancies  of  some  of  the  Court 
favorites  there,  such  as  Du  Barry.  They  had  their  inspira¬ 
tion  in  the  frivolous  life  of  those  devotees  at  the  shrine  of 
sensuality.  But  they  are  not  consistent  with  the  practical 
life  we  are  living  today. 

Simplicity  is  desirable  because  of  its  restfulness.  We 
need  restfulness.  Our  homes  are  not  exhibition  places. 
They  are  not  museums  for  the  exhibition  of  art  objects. 
They  are  places  where  we  go  to  rest.  We  get  nerve  strain 


7 


enough  in  our  business  life.  When  we  go  home  we  want 
a  restful  place.  For  a  man  to  have  a  home  which  he  must 
live  up  to,  a  home  in  which  he  is  bound  to  wear  a  pink 
dressing  gown  in  order  to  be  consistent  with  the  decora¬ 
tions,  is,  I  should  imagine,  a  rather  trying  experience.  I 
have  never  attained  that  place  myself,  and  I  do  not  expect 
to. 

What  we  want  in  the  home  is  restfulness;  and  the  atmos¬ 
phere  of  the  home  is  affected  very  largely  by  the  decorative 
treatment  to  be  found  there.  When  your  eye  rests  upon 
your  wall  you  want  nothing  to  startle  the  already  strained 
nerves,  you  want  that  which  suggests  the  quiet  and  repose 
you  hope  to  find  in  your  refuge  from  the  cares  of  the  mar¬ 
ket  place. 

To  this  end  there  is  a  growing  regard  for  the  solid  color 
walls.  I  was  in  the  studio  of  one  of  the  leading  wall  paper 
designers  two  or  three  weeks  ago, — Mr.  Kinkaid  of  New 
York,  probably  as  well  known  as  any  wall  paper  designer 
in  the  United  States, — and  he  was  showing  me  the  new 
things  he  was  preparing  for  the  manufacturers.  It  was 
notable  that  almost  all  the  new  designs  are  being  created  in 
either  single-tone  or  two-tone  effect.  The  ornamental  de¬ 
signs  in  the  wall  paper  are  being  made  principally  in  two- 
tone  effect.  Instead  of  the  startling  combinations  of  color 
of  a  few  years  ago,  there  are  now  the  quiet  tones,  subdued 
and  restful. 

People  are  recognizing  more  and  more  that  the  walls  of 
a  house  are  not  objects  of  display  in  themselves ;  that  the 
walls  of  a  house  are  simply  the  backgrounds  for  the  display 
of  those  things  which  the  room  contains,  and  for  the 
setting  out  to  the  best  advantage  of  the  persons,  as  well  as 
the  objects  in  the  room.  The  wall  is  the  background.  It 
was  so  recognized  at  the  World’s  Fair.  In  all  the  Fine 
Arts  buildings  there  was  not  a  single  wall  that  was  not  in 
a  single- tone.  If  you  go  to  Washington  and  visit  the  Cor- 


8 


coran  Art  Gallery, — I  do  not  care  to  say  whose  goods  are 
on  the  wall, — you  will  find  the  wall  coverings  are  all  of  a 
single-tone, — simply  a  solid  mass  of  color  against  which 
the  paintings  and  statuary  stand  out  as  though  they  were 
pushed  forward  into  notice.  That  is  one  accompaniment 
of  the  simplicity  of  today.  The  walls  are  in  a  single  tone, 
in  order  that  those  things  which  are  in  the  room, — the 
furniture,  draperies,  paintings  and  other  art  objects, — will 
stand  out  against  that  wall. 

You  take  the  wall  with  profuse  design  all  over  it,  and 
you  put  a  painting  up  against  it.  In  the  first  place,  the 
painting  cuts  the  design  all  to  pieces.  Not  only  that,  but 
the  combination  of  color  in  the  design  conflicts  with  the 
combinations  of  color  that  are  in  the  painting.  Even  the 
gold  moulding  that  may  be  around  the  painting,  or  the 
simple  frame  work  that  may  be  around  a  black  and  white 
drawing,  cannot  counteract  the  effect  of  that  heavy  design 
upon  the  walls. 

In  the  Fine  Arts  Building ;  in  the  Educational  Building, 
where  they  had  innumerable  objects  of  ornament  and  art  ; 
in  the  Liberal  Arts  Building,  where  among  other  things 
they  had  exhibits  of  statuary ;  in  the  Manufactures 
Building,  where  men  sought  to  show  to  the  best  advantage 
the  products  of  their  mills ;  and  in  the  Transportation 
Building,  where  everything  from  the  locomotive  to  the 
automobile,  was  set  forth  to  the  best  advantage, — you 
found  everywhere  the  walls  covered  with  the  single  tone. 
And  almost  everywhere  Burlap  was  used.  Besides  the 
strong  thread  effect  and  depth  of  color,  it  has  the  advan¬ 
tage  of  the  single-tone  and  pushes  out  to  the  best  advan¬ 
tage  the  thing  that  is  set  over  against  it.  And  that  is  in 
harmony  with  the  New  Art. 

When  we  talk  about  New  Art  some  of  you  gentlemen 
may  feel  like  smiling, — perhaps  a  little  contemptuously.  I 
do  not  blame  you.  Like  every  other  good  idea  it  has  had 


9 


its  time  of  fantasy  and  fanaticism.  The  great  apostle  of 
the  New  Art,  was  William  Morris.  But  Morris,  like  most 
reformers,  went  to  the  extreme.  Those  of  you  who  are 
familiar  with  the  history  of  Morris  will  remember  the  cir¬ 
cumstances  under  which  he  made  the  great  departure  that 
has  had  such  an  influence  upon  the  decorative  work  since 
his  time.  You  remember  how  in  company  with  his  young 
friend,  Edward  Burne-Jones, — afterward  Sir  Edward  Burne- 
Jones, — he  went  to  London  and  they  took  that  house  on 
Red  Lion  Square,  which  had  formerly  been  occupied  by 
Rossetti.  When  Morris  went  out  to  get  furniture,  dra¬ 
peries  and  various  decorative  materials,  with  which  to  fit 
up  his  home,  he  found  nothing  which  he  considered  con¬ 
sistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  age,  especially  the  spirit  that 
was  moving  in  himself.  So,  in  order  that  he  might  get 
things  that  were  consistent  and  individual,  he  took  up  the 
work  of  designing  what  he  wanted.  The  furniture  he  pro¬ 
duced  was  a  revival  of  the  old  monastic  furniture,  heavy, 
unwieldy  and  all  too  rigidly  solid.  It  was  more  consistent 
with  a  monastery  than  a  private  house.  Morris  had,  how¬ 
ever,  the  advantage  of  having  Rossetti  come  in,  and 
Rossetti  and  Burne-Jones  together  painted  beautiful  pic¬ 
tures  all  over  that  furniture  and  made  it,  in  that  respect, 
very  artistic. 

Morris  started  a  style,  and  that  style,  of  course,  caught 
certain  people  up.  It  was  just  like  a  whirlwind.  You 
know  what  a  whirlwind  does.  It  catches  up  the  light  and 
useless  odds  and  ends  and  all  the  dead  leaves  that  lie  inert 
upon  the  ground.  It  tosses  them  up  in  the  air,  whirling 
them  round  and  round,  and  they  make  so  great  a  showing 
for  a  little  while,  that  one  might  almost  be  led  to  think 
that  the  air  consisted  altogether  of  dead  leaves  and  refuse. 
In  the  world  of  thought  it  is  just  like  that.  Here  are  a  lot 
of  people  of  no  consequence  themselves,  that  lie  dead  and 
inert  in  the  thinking  world,  but  when  a  whirlwind  of 


10 


thought  comes,  they  are  the  first  ones  to  be  caught  up  and 
made  prominent.  So  the  New  Art  came  into  contempt  be¬ 
cause  a  lot  of  these  no-account  fanatics  got  active  and 
made  a  great  show  and  noise.  You  know  what  a  lot  of 
noise  can  be  made  by  a  very  small  aggregation. 

I  heard  somebody  tell  a  story  some  time  ago  of  a  man 
in  a  Southern  city,  who  went  to  a  hotel-keeper  and  said, 
“Say,  Boss,  I  would  like  to  sell  you  a  ton  of  frogs.  Don’t 
you  have  to  have  frog’s  legs  on  your  bill-of-fare  ?.”  The 
hotel  man  said,  “Why,  yes,  but  what  on  earth  would  I  do 
with  a  ton  of  frogs?  They  would  last  me  forever.” 
“Well,”  the  other  man  replied,  “I  don’t  know  what  you 
would  do  with  them,  but  I  would  like  to  sell  you  a  ton  of 
frogs.”  The  hotel-keeper  being  skeptical  about  the  thing, 
said,  “All  right;  go  ahead,  get  your  frogs;  bring  them 
along  and  I’ll  take  them.”  So  the  fellow  went  out.  A 
day  or  two  afterwards  he  came  back  and  had  just  six  frogs, 
and  he  said  to  the  hotel-keeper,  “Here’s  your  frogs.” 
“Why,”  said  the  hotel  man,  “That’s  not  a  ton  of  frogs.” 
“Well,  this  is  all  I  could  get,  Boss,  just  six  of  them.” 
“But,”  protested  the  hotel  man,  “You  were  talking  about 
a  ton  the  other  day.”  “Well,  Boss,”  said  the  man  with 
the  frogs,  “I  live  right  near  this  here  meadow,  and  at 
night  when  them  frogs  was  singin’,  it  sounded  to  me  like 
thar  might  be  a  millyun,  and  when  I  tried  to  ketch  em,’ 
thar  was  only  six.” 

You  know  it  is  the  same  way  with  people  sometimes, — 
and  with  movements, — there  is  such  a  noise  made  by  a  little 
coterie  you  would  think  the  whole  world  was  being  agitated, 
when  it  may  be  only  six  active  little  frogs.  So  in  the  New 
Art,  there  was  a  little  coterie  that  made  a  tremendous  noise 
and  confusion.  You  gentlemen  heard  the  noise,  and  you 
could  not  see  that  there  was  anything  but  sound  and  fury 
there.  Much  of  their  work  was  not  consistent  with  art  in 
any  sense,  new  or  old  art,  and  so  you  just  turned  the  thing 


11 


down  and  said,  “Well,  if  that  is  New  Art,  I  don’t  want 
any  of  it.”  But  remember,  gentlemen,  that  whirlwind  was 
started  by  the  inrush  of  a  certain  spirit,  and  to-day  that 
spirit,  more  fully  understood  and  more  sanely  represented,  is 
growing  dominant  in  all  art  work,  whether  the  fine  arts  or 
the  decorative  arts .  It  is  this  spirit  with  which  we  need  to 
come  into  touch.  We  must  get  some  of  the  inspiration  of 
that  spirit,  and  exemplify  it  in  our  work.  It  will  give  our 
work  individuality,  distinction,  up-to-date-ness.  It  will 
increase  our  personal  interest  and  pride  in  our  work.  It 
will  also  increase  our  profits. 

You  are  a  decorator,  and  a  person  with  sufficient  means 
comes  to  you  and  he  says,  ‘  ‘i  want  you  to  fit  up  my  home.  ’  ’ 
Well,  you  have  been  doing  it  year  after  year  in  the  same 
old  way.  You  know  just  the  certain  materials  that  it  has 
been  customary  to  use,  the  certain  combinations  of  color 
that  have  been  regarded  as  standard.  You  just  go  plodding 
along,  using  these  old  things  in  the  old  way. 

How  much  better  it  is  to  do  as  a  decorator  told  me  the 
other  day  he  did.  A  customer  who  had  a  fine  home  came 
to  him  and  wanted  him  to  redecorate  it,  and  he  said,  “Yes, 
I  will  be  glad  to  undertake  the  contract.”  The  customer 
asked,  “How  much  will  it  cost?”  The  decorator  replied, 
“I  don’t  know.  I  will  promise  you  this:  I  will  give  it  my 
best  individual  thought  and  care,  and  I  will  try  to  secure 
for  you  the  results  that  I  think  you  want,  and  that  I  am 
sure  you  will  be  satisfied  with,  and  then  the  question  of 
cost  we  can  settle  afterwards.”  The  customer  had  confi¬ 
dence  in  him  and  gave  him  the  contract. 

He  took  that  house  room  by  room,  and  he  made  it  differ¬ 
ent  from  any  other  house  in  the  city.  He  used  things  that 
were  new  to  the  community;  he  used  designs  that  had  not 
been  used  there  before, — new  designs  and  things  that  were 
consistent  with  the  spirit  of  the  day.  By  giving  it  his  in¬ 
dividual  thought  and  selecting  these  things  that  were  in- 


12 


dividual,  he  produced  what  perfectly  satisfied  his  patron. 
When  the  bill  was  presented,  while  the  gentleman  thought 
it  was  a  little  higher  than  he  had  anticipated,  he  said,  “it 
is  all  right;  we  are  perfectly  satisfied.  We  have  got  some¬ 
thing  that  is  not  repeated  all  the  way  up  and  down  the 
street.”  And  when  Mrs.  Jones  goes  in  to  see  Mrs.  Brown, 
Mrs.  Jones  will  see  that  Mrs.  Brown  has  something  in  the 
decorative  way  that  Mrs.  Jones  has  not,  and  of  which  she 
cannot  find  a  duplicate  in  the  town. 

We  have  a  customer  down  in  a  little  town  in  Kentucky, 
I  think — and  you  know  Kentucky  is  not  noted  for  her  en¬ 
terprise,  as  a  rule;  she  is  a  good  old  State,  and  some  things 
she  makes  down  there  are,  perhaps,  unapproachable;  prob¬ 
ably  you  gentlemen  know  more  about  it  than  I  do.  Ken¬ 
tucky  is  a  conservative  State.  When  you  get  into  the  small 
communities  of  any  State,  even  grand  old  Pennsylvania, 
you  find  conservatism.  But  that  fellow  down  in  Kentucky 
has  used  at  least  three  thousand  yards  of  some  of  our  highest 
priced  materials  right  in  and  around  that  community,  sim¬ 
ply  because  he  is  determined  not  to  be  limited  to  mere 
paperhanging  and  commonplace  everyday  decorative  work. 
He  wants  to  rise  above  that,  and  to  help  his  community  to 
rise  above  it.  So  he  gets  the  new  things.  If  he  needs  wall 
paper,  he  will  not  take  the  old  back  stock  that  people  try 
to  work  off  on  him;  he  wants  the  new  goods,  the  newest 
ideas.  If  he  needs  sketches  of  decorative  designs;  if  he 
needs  wall  coverings,  or  draperies,  he  gets  new  things  and 
keeps  in  touch  with  the  modern  movements.  The  name 
and  fame  and  profits  of  that  man  will  grow. 

If  I  had  known  I  was  to  be  called  upon,  I  might  have 
systematized  my  remarks  a  little.  As  it  is  they  are  but 
desultory.  Still  I  am  very  glad  to  have  this  chance  of  sug¬ 
gesting  to  you  as  decorators — and  artists  more  or  less — that 
for  your  own  personal  benefit,  for  your  business  profit,  for 
your  future  good,  both  personal  and  business,  you  should 


13 


get  into  touch  with  the  modern  spirit,  that  which  lifts  us 
out  of  ruts,  out  of  slavery  to  mechanical  details,  inspiring 
us  with  beautiful  and  lofty  conceptions  of  what  is  possible 
to  us  in  our  chosen  sphere. 

Let  me  suggest  something  that  will  serve  to  show  the 
necessity  now  upon  us  for  taking  the  broadest  possible  view 
of  our  opportunity. 

In  the  educational  exhibits  at  the  great  Fair,  the  fact 
that  .struck  me  most  forcibly  was  that  in  the  public  schools 
of  our  country — and  in  your  own  home  schools,  I  presume — 
they  are  now  training  the  children  in  art.  Beginning  at 
the  kindergarten  and  carrying  the  work  systematically  up 
through  the  various  grades,  they  are  teaching  first,  the 
principles,  and,  later,  the  application  of  those  principles. 
The  most  complete  system  that  I  examined  was,  by  the 
way,  that  of  Utah.  I  suppose  it  is  because  they  have  large 
families  there, — the  family  arrangements  are  peculiar,  you 
know.  But  in  all  the  States  they  are  developing  the  art 
faculties  of  the  children,  and  are  educating  the  growing 
generation  to  be  more  intelligently  critical  of  all  artistic 
efforts  or  products. 

It  is  not,  however,  merely  the  growing  generation  which 
is  affected  by  this  training.  The  children  carry  the  new 
ideas  into  their  homes.  The  parents,  our  patrons,  are  more 
or  less  influenced  and  educated. 

The  exhibits  of  the  various  schools  of  design  were  strik¬ 
ingly  suggestive  of  the  advanced  character  and  high  quality 
of  the  training  furnished  the  young  men  and  women  who 
are  fortunate  enough  to  be  able  to  attend  them. 

Gentlemen,  this  movement  cannot  be  checked.  No  true 
lover  of  his  art  would  check  it  if  he  could.  It  is  far  better 
that  we  should  welcome  it,  cooperate  with  it,  contribute  our 
share  to  it,  get  our  share  of  the  value  in  it. 

The  leading  manufacturers  of  painters’  and  decorators’ 
supplies  are  doing  what  they  can  to  foster  and  forward  in- 


14 


telligent  interest  along  these  lines.  Mr.  Webster  (of  York) 
has  spoken  of  the  technical  training  which  may  be  given  to 
the  apprentices  in  your  shops  if  the  master  is  willing  to 
devote  a  part  of  his  time  and  strength  to  that  end.  Let  me 
add  that  very  often  the  booklets  and  other  reading  matter 
sent  out  by  the  manufacturers  are  full  of  technical  inform¬ 
ation,  instruction  or  suggestion.  These  frequently  go  into 
the  waste-basket  without  receiving  the  courtesy  of  a  look. 
I  know  how  busy  each  successful  man  is,  and  how  little 
time  he  has  at  best  for  reading;  but  I  would  suggest  that  a 
little  more  pains  be  taken  to  see  that  things  of  real  value 
are  not  cast  away,  things  which  you  might  well  read  your¬ 
selves,  and  put  into  the  hands  of  those  you  are  trying  to 
train.  I  have  over  there  at  my  booth  some  booklets  [refer¬ 
ring  to  the  booklets  on  “Light,  Color  and  Color  Harmony,  ’  ’ 
and  “The  Acoustic  Properties  of  Rooms”,  by  Dr.  R.  W. 
Cornelison,  Chief  Chemist  and  Superintendent  for  the 
Fab-Ri-Ko-Na  Mills,  and  “The  Modern  House;  Its  Fur¬ 
nishings  and  Decoration”  by  Mr.  John  Taylor,  of  Glasgow, 
Consulting  Art  Director  for  the  same  Mills]  which  any 
decorator,  however  high  up  in  his  art  may  profitably  read. 

Finally,  gentlemen,  there  is  great  moral  and  spiritual 
gain,  as  well  as  intellectual  stimulus  and  financial  profit,  in 
accepting  the  inspiration  imparted  by  these  new  ideals. 

It  is  something,  friends,  to  have  a  background  against 
which  the  sordid  and  practical  affairs  of  our  life  may  be  set. 
You  know  that  the  old  Hebrews  taught  us  many  good  les¬ 
sons.  They  were  a  poetic  people,  a  people  who  caught 
wonderful  visions  of  higher  things,  and  reported  them  for 
the  benefit  of  posterity.  A  verse  by  their  great  Psalmist 
utters  the  very  spirit  of  Hebrew  poetry,  and  accounts  for 
the  best  in  the  Hebrew  life,  when  he  says:  “As  the  moun¬ 
tains  are  round  about  Jerusalem,  so  the  Lord  is  round  about 
His  people,  from  henceforth,  even  forever.”  The  idea  is, 
of  course,  that  as  the  mountains  were  the  safeguard  of  the 


city,  so  Jehovah  was  the  protector  of  His  people.  But  there 
is  more  than  that  in  it.  Being  surrounded  by  the  moun¬ 
tains,  the  dweller  in  the  sacred  city  was  always  able  to 
lift  his  eyes  from  the  commonplaces  of  his  daily  task,  and 
be  quickened  with  a  vision  of  that  which  was  beautiful, 
lofty,  enduring. 

So  it  is,  friends,  with  you  and  me.  If  we  are  to  live 
lives  that  are  full,  lives  that  are  strong  to  meet  our  duties, 
lives  rich  towards  our  fellowmen,  we  must  have  a  back¬ 
ground,  something  to  look  up  to,  something  beautiful, 
lofty,  enduring. 

Feel  that  you  are  artists.  Feel  that  you  are  in  touch  with 
the  living  art  of  to-day.  Be  willing  to  hear  its  message. 
Be  willing  to  follow  its  leadings.  Every  day  will  be  the 
brighter  for  it.  All  your  work  will  be  the  better  for  it. 
And,  when  you  finish  your  work,  when  you  lay  down  the 
implements  by  which  you  have  tried  to  make  earth  more 
beautiful,  and  go  out  to  that  “house  not  made  with  hands, 
eternal  in  the  heavens”  prepared  for  us  by  the  Great  Ar¬ 
chitect,  and  decorated  by  celestial  workmen,  you  will  feel 
that  you  have  not  lived  and  labored  in  vain. 

You  will  feel  that  you  have  not  been  merely  a  part  of  the 
great  industrial  machine,  but  a  part  of  the  living  spirit  behind 
the  machine;  and  you  will  leave  your  ideals,  strengthened 
by  experience,  and  your  inspiration,  justified  by  its  fruits, 
as  a  precious  heritage  to  those  who  in  the  future  shall  walk 
the  paths  that  you  and  I  now  tread. 


The  booklets  referred  to  by  the  speaker  (see 
page  14)  are  a  part  of  the  educational  propaganda 
now  being  carried  on  by  the  Fab-Ri-Ko-Na  Mills, 
in  connection  with,  but  distinct  from,  their  ad¬ 
vertising. 

We  are  profoundly  impressed  with  the  rapid  de¬ 
velopment  of  both  the  decorating  trade  and  the 
people  at  large  in  art  perception,  knowledge  and 
taste,  and  we  are  confident  that  what  someone  has 
called  “the  American  genius  for  ugliness”  is  no 
longer  dominant. 

It  is  our  purpose  to  make  our  products  keep 
pace  with  the  art  development  of  the  time,  and  to 
do  all  we  can  to  promote  that  development.  In 
booklets,  pamphlets,  circulars,  etc.,  we  are  making 
widely  known  the  best  ideas  and  suggestions  of  the 
highest  authorities  on  decorative  work.  We  are 
always  glad  to  give  advice  concerning  schemes  of 
decoration,  and  to  render  assistance  in  the  solution 
of  special  problems. 


H.  B.  WIGGINS  SONS  CO . 


